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Imperial Consul to Intermezzo William Carrigan said Wednesday that the Empire will provide an additional Cr3e13 in humanitarian aid to Intermezzo, bringing the total Imperial aid to the war-torn nation to Cr2e14. Consul Carrigan made the announcement on PLANET1, where she is attending a biennial summit with Imperial General Plasmodium Attenuatum and their local PLANET1 counterparts.
On Tuesday, POLITY1 became the first interstellar polity to formally recognize Intermezzo's newly formed opposition coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Intermezzini people. The Empire also recognized the leadership body as a legitimate representative, but stopped short of describing it as a sole representative.
Intermezzo's opposition had been deeply divided for months despite the relentless bloodshed and repeated calls from human and nonhuman supporters to create a cohesive and representative leadership that could present a single conduit for foreign aid. The formation of the coalition, after more than a week of meetings in the PLANET2 capital of CITY1, could boost efforts to secure international backing – and possibly weapons – that will be needed to oust Chief Permaculture Officer Suryagarh.
Consul Carrigan was asked Wednesday whether there was any way the Empire would follow POLITY1 and recognize the opposition as sole representatives and perhaps provide lethal aid.
"We have long called for this kind of organization," Consul Carrigan said. "The Empire was deeply involved in the work that went on leading up to and at CITY1. Now we want to see that momentum maintained. Specifically, we urge them to finalize the organizational arrangements to support the commitments that they made in CITY1 and to begin influencing events on the ground on Intermezzo."
"As the Intermezzini opposition takes these steps and demonstrates its effectiveness in advancing the cause of a unified, democratic, pluralistic Intermezzo, we will be prepared to work with them to deliver assistance to the Intermezzini people," she said.
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---IMPERIAL NEWS SERVICE (INS) IS A FUNCTION OF THE INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT--
Intermezzo is a planet in search of a destiny to call its own, now that its old one is no longer feasible. It was once an independent planet, bucolic, full of farmers who regulated themselves and their ecology by means of a global wireless internet. Days were for permacultural agriculture and when night fell, each citizen took up his bureaucratic duties on the 'net, looking over forms and making decisions about how best to manage the ecosystem that had been constructed on the planet.
Then some interfering Imperial – possibly, rumor has it, a Security Department operative – realized that Intermezzo was the source of much of the subsector's food. This individual brought governance scientists and psychosocial engineers to Intermezzo and slowly pushed, by means of deals and bureaucratic manipulations, them into greater positions of power. E also began to spread, by means of 'net chatrooms the idea that making individual and hierarchical agreements (feudal contracts) would create free time which the citizenry could put to whatever use they wished: games, romance, art, anything.
This caught on, and Intermezzini society began to resemble more and more the feudal technocracy of the Empire, with the effective Marquis of Intermezzo holding the previously-existing position of Chief Permaculture Officer. The hardline distributists allocated more and more bureaucratic duties to their own positions in a desperate attempt to prevent them being gobbled up by the Empire; few now even remember what it was like to live in a collective bureaucracy like Intermezzo once had, so much time has passed since the distributists shared their dwindling power or even farmed.
All in all, the Empire seemed to have succeeded. Until POLITY1 became involved with the planet. They covertly encouraged a minor religion descended from the ancient religions of Neo-Wicca, Mormonism, and Sufi Islam, building them into a full-fledged rebel force. The religion's focus on small coven structures allowed POLITY1 to keep their involvement hidden behind layers of fractious organizing, until the rebels (due, in large part to interstellar pressure and mediation) formed a single coalition, at which point POLITY1 officially recognized that coalition as the sole legitimate decision-making body for the planet. Their announcement forced the Empire to make a similar, but weaker announcement and contribute yet more money to a group fighting against their interests.
Intermezzo
Star Size and Type: G1V (Mass: 2.426702e30 kg)
Intermezzo Alpha
Planetoid Belt
Intermezzo Beta
Planetoid Belt
Intermezzo Gamma
Large Gas Giant
Intermezzo Gamma A
Intermezzo Gamma B
Intermezzo Gamma C
Intermezzo Gamma D
Intermezzo Gamma E
Intermezzo Delta
Diameter: 1.296e4 km
Surface Area: 5.277e8 km²
Core: Molten
Density: 6.537 <sup>g</sup>/<sub>cm³</sub>
Mass: 6.093072e24 kg
Gravity: 1.02 g = 1.0002783e1 <sup>m</sup>/<sub>sec²</sub>
Orbital Distance: 2.3935659312e11 m
Orbital Period: 6.69e2 Earthdays 6 hours 4 minutes 1.34238186e1 seconds (approximately 2.25e1 localdays)
Rotation Period: 7.143e2 hours
Axial Tilt: 23ยบ
Orbital Eccentricity: 0.000
Satellites: 2
Atmospheric Composition: standard oxygen-nitrogen mix
Surface Atmospheric Pressure: 1.39612e1 psi
Base Temperature: 6.401642° F
Temperature Grid:
Native Life: Yes
Atmospheric Terraforming: No
Greenhouse Effect Terraforming: No
Albedo Terraforming: No
Hydrographic Percentage: 48%
Hydrographic Composition: Liquid water
Tectonic Plates: 5
Hydrographic Terraforming: No
Terrain Terraforming: No
Oceans: 1 major ocean, 2 minor oceans, 5 small seas, 10 scattered lakes
Volcanoes: 12 on land, 6 in each ocean (30 total)
Resources and Goods: Agricultural, ores, agroproducts, processed non-metals
Weather Control: No
Total World Population: 6.44735e5 people
Global Population Density: 1.22186e-3 <sup>people</sub>/<sub>km²</sub>
Extremely Large Cities: Not applicable
Very Large Cities: None
Large Cities: 2 orbital cities (Total Population: 9.32e4 people or about 15% of the planet's population)
- Gurraladandi (Population: 6.32e4 people)
- Pascal Pierre (Population: 3e4 people)
- Schleinitz (Starport Type: A)
- Brandon Rhys-Williams (Starport Type: A)
- Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen (Starport Type: B)
- All other medium-large cities (Spaceport Type: H)
Small Cities: 1.043e3 cities, of which 1.1e1 have a population of about 9e1 people each and the remaining 1.032e3 have a population of about 5e1 people each (Total Population: 5.259e4 people or about 9% of the population)
Very Small Cities: 5.065e3 cities, of which 3.55e2 have a population of about 9 people each and the remaining 4.71e3 have a population of about 5 people each (Total Population: 2.6745e4 or about 4% of the population)
Progressiveness: Progressive attitude, indifferent action
Aggressiveness: Unaggressive attitude, neutral action
Extensiveness: Discordant attitude, friendly action
Local Customs: Academic figures have shaved heads; everyone eats only meat and uses unusual leavetakings; political figures are tattooed on the body and must be married; Unusual Customs: Starport
World Government: Feudal technocracy headed by a ruler with no division of authority
Secondary Government: Opposition coalition with significant support (actually controlled by POLITY1) headed by several councils with a 2-way division of authority (executive/legislative in representative authority and an independent judiciary, which is also several councils)
Tertiary Government: Impersonal bureaucratic remnants with few supporters headed by several councils with a 3-way division of authority (executive is the representative authority; the legislative is headed by several councils and the executive by several councils)
Native Religion: Atheism in which believers perform charitable acts to build a better society for posterity, believing that future society (known to them as Mecca-Kolob) itself to be divine, and perform devotions five times a day. The religious hierarchy assumes the function of a government; the religion is explicitly theocratic. Divine prophecy is pronounced by living oracles and services are tightly controlled by the priesthood. Possessed of ordinary zeal and willing to convert any sophont, they are estimated to have 5.75e8 adherents (mostly offworld).
Uniformity of Law: Territorial
Overall Law Level: 6 (moderate law)
Weapons Law Level: 8 (slightly high law)
Trade Law Level: 3 (slightly low law)
Criminal Law Level: 8 (slightly high law)
Civil Law Level: 1 (very low law)
Personal Freedoms Law Level: 3 (slightly low law)
High Common Technology Level: A (very early stellar)
Low Common Technology Level: A (very early stellar)
Energy Technology Level: 9 (early fusion; improved batteries)
Computer/Robotics Technology Level: 9 (non-volatile/high data, vocal I/O, model/3)
Communications Technology Level: 9 (video telephone, flat screen)
Medical Technology Level: 9 (limb regeneration, cryogenics, fast drugs)
Environmental Technology Level: 8 (orbital settlements, early weather control)
Land Transport Technology Level: 9 (early grav vehicles, ultra-high-speed trains)
Water Transport Technology Level: 9 (early grav vehicles, artificial gills)
Air Transport Technology Level: 9 (early grav vehicles, rocket-assisted suborbital)
Space Transport Technology Level: 9 (Jump-1 possible, sublight stellar)
Personal Military Technology Level: 9 (laser weapons, ablative armor)
Heavy Military Technology Level: 8 (particle accelerators, target-designated missiles, advanced composite laminate armor)
Novelty Import Technology Level:
Local Prototype Technology Level: 9 (almost stellar)
Local Artifact Tech Level:
Intermezzo Delta A
Size: 4.8e3 km
Orbital Distance: 6 radii
Atmosphere: 2
Hydrosphere: 1
Population: 5
Intermezzo Delta B
Size: 2.72e3 km
Orbital Distance: 35 radii
Atmosphere: 1
Hydrosphere: 0
Population: 7
